Viva Terlingua!

Monday we got on the road after saying our goodbyes to our good friends we made on the farm. It was a long drive to Terlingua. Meg had severe stomach issues and we stopped pretty frequently. Somewhere in the desert wasteland that is western Texas we were close to running out of gas and a kind Mexican man saved us with two gallons of fuel. This good fortune was soon countered by yet another speeding ticket. I tried to be charming and charismatic, but it was to no avail. Now I have a phone date with a judge that is no doubt going to end in a two hundred dollar deficit. By nightfall we had driven through a lot of flat, dry Texas and were driving into Big Bend national state park. What a stark comparison to the rest of Texas. Driving in at night was bizarre. Big mountains and plateaus, no lights, and an enormous sky filled with busy clouds doing strange things. Driving through the temperature sporadically dropped and rose, it would be fiercely raining and then completely calm, and it hailed chunks of ice just smaller than pingpong balls. At first we pulled over because we though the windshield was going to break, then we decided to roll through it at a very slow speed. It was concentrated little storms. It was real neat to see these clouds from a distance. Some of these clouds are eight miles high, and the lightning is constant. What a show.

Once we reached our host Cynta, we were exhausted. You would not believe her home. She built it up from ruins. Terlingua is a ghost town now with a population of twenty-nine people. It used to be a mercury-mining town that had a big Mexican population. Now there are many ruins left from the stone houses the Mexicans built. Many have been built-up and worked on to become functioning homes again. The all have dirt roads. It is a very neat little area. We sat on her porch and spoke for a bit while watching the lighting storm in the distance. She has an amazing view. During the day we can see as far as eighty miles. We can see Mexico!

The following day Meg was still feeling shitty and I was pretty content being out of the car. So we just loafed around the oasis that is Cynta’s home. I have never admired a house more than this one. Love. Her home aside, Cynta is a lovely person. She is very nice, very trusting, and very easy to be around. She has great stories and a good delivery when she’s telling them. She’s got a great variety of interests and I very much enjoy her company.

We originally were going to stay with Cynta for a night or two. We spoke with Cynta and decided we would leave Friday morning. There is a moonrise Thursday night after all. Meg’s birthday is Thursday the 27th and had originally wanted to spend it in an urban setting in Tucson, AZ dancing or something of that venue. We were going to jet over there in a matter of days. She now wants to spend it hiking a mountain! I’d say that’s a one hundred percent better way to spend the day. Good job Meg. Here’s hoping ya have a good one.

The sky is so much bigger here than anywhere else I’ve been, every morning and evening I’ve seen here leaves me wanting more. It is absolutely breathtaking.